Not sure what you mean by "Gordon Gekko" sydrome. Are you referring to the ET member or the movie character?

I can definitely relate to giving away some profits, but I still maintain that trades, when presented (according to your style), simply have to be taken.

Incidentally, if these trades are losers, it's common to lament, "oh, see! I knew I shouldn't have 'overtraded' ". That is why I think it's so important to know yourself, your style, your setups etc - cos it may well be that it was NOT overtrading, just a bad run.

use profit stops once you hit your profit goal for the day. I do this all the time... If my goal is 1k and I make it, I will set a profit stop @ 500 dollars. Then you can trail that stop as you make more money.

Another way that I've heard of is that once you've hit your profit goal, stop once you have 1 losing trade.

Originally posted by daniel_m Not sure what you mean by "Gordon Gekko" sydrome. Are you referring to the ET member or the movie character?

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i think he was referring to me..lol

in a previous post i mentioned that, once a trade is profitable, if you put your stops too tight, it will be hard to let your profits run. on the other hand, if you set them too wide, you might give back a lot of your profits.

The drawback of stopping when you reach a certain profit level is that when the market or a particular stock that you trade is really moving, you have to destroy it (especially in the slower summer months). By stopping at a set point, you never give yourself a chance at huge profit days.
That being said, you should also stick to your "style" and recognize when the market has nothing left to offer you that day.
Good luck.

Originally posted by lundy use profit stops once you hit your profit goal for the day. I do this all the time... If my goal is 1k and I make it, I will set a profit stop @ 500 dollars. Then you can trail that stop as you make more money.

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I think that's a brilliant approach. Once you have achieved your daily target, you allow only a drawdown of half of your gains. Then you stop.